Flow meter



Sept. 6, i927.,

G. E. DECKER FLOW METER f Filed June 12, 1925 n1/enrol" eorge [eckerPatented Sept. 6, 1927.

maaar casina.

GEORGE E. DECKER, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

FLOW METER.

Application led .Tune 12, 1923. Serial No. 644,877.

This invention has to do with a meter, and more particularly to a meterfor indicating and measuring 'the flow of fiuid. It is an object of thisinvention to provide a 6 meter of the character above specified which issimple, eective and reliable.

It is an object of this invention to provide an effective flow meterwhich is extremelyA simple and inexpensive of construction.

It is another object of this invention to provide af How meter which canbe quickly and conveniently cleaned or taken apart for the purpose ofrepair or replacement of parts. Y

The various objects'and features of-my inventionwill be bestand morefully understood from the following detailed descrip'- tion of atypicalpreferred form of the invention, throughout which description referenceis had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical detail sectional view showing my improved meter; j

' Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the upper portion of the meter, being aview taken as indicated by the line 2-2 on Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section, taken as indicated by the line 3-3on Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged ldetail plan section, taken as indicated by theline 4-'4 on Fig. 1.

The meter provided-by this invention may be used to indicate and measurethe flow of various fluids, it being particularly suited to measuringand indicating the flow of liquids such as water. I have, therefore,herein set forth a form of the invention particularlysuited for handlingwater, it being understood, of course, that this is merely a typicalform. of the invention and that it is not to be considered in any way asa limitation of the invention to handling any specific fluid. A

The meter provided by the inventionV includes, generally, a body acylinder and piston mechanism 11, carried by the body and adapted to beactuated by 'How' of fluid through the body; and indicating means 12 forindicating actuation of the cylinder and piston mechanism.

and 15, respectively. The lower end part -15A has an opening'l at its uper end to receive the lower end of the'mi dle part 13, has an opening17 atits lower end opposite The .body -10` includes a tubular middleVpart 13, and upper and lower end parts 14` the opening 16, and has anintake opening 19 in one side to receive fluid from the conduit 20. Theopening 16 is closed by a suitable plug 18. The upper end part 14 has anopening 21 in its lower end to re- 6o ceive the upper". end of themiddle part 13, gan', opening 22 in its upper end opposite the opening21 to receive and carry a part of theiindicating means 12, as will behereinafter described, and an outlet opening 23 65 in its side todischarge fluid from the body to the fluid conduit 24. rIhe body 10forms a connection between the fluid conduits 20 and A24 which willconduct fluid from the conduit 20 to;y the conduit 24. From the 7oforegoing description, and from inspection of the'drawings, it will beobvious Vthatthe body 10 is extremely simple and inexpensive 1nconstruction. In practice the middle part v13may be formed of a piece ofpipe, while 75 the ends 14 and 15 may be standard Ts.

The cylinder and piston mechanism in- I cludes a cylinder 25 mounted inthe body '10 so that fluid fiowing through the body iiows through it,and a piston 26 slidably 80 .l

carried in the c linder so that it isoperyated upon by'fiuld flowingthrough the cylinder. The cylinder 25 isv mounted in the body 10 so t atit extends longitudinally through the body. In the form of constru'c-y85 vtion illustrated in the drawings a collar 27,.

p arranged between the collar`27 and vthe plug 18; fflh'e spring 28)h isheld in the proper i position with relation to the collar and plug l bya socket 30 in the plug, which receives the lower end of the spring,andthe lower end of the cylinder, which projects downwardly from thecollar into the upper end of the-spring. With the VKJconstruction justdescribed all the fluid entering the lowerl end part 15 from the conduit20 must pass-or flow into thecylinder 25 -in orderyl'to/pass r throughthe body to the .conduit 24. 1 The piston is preferably' made'sucientlyl im large so that it operates vfreely in the cylinder without binding.In practice I provide an annular recess in the piston between its endsto catch any foreign material that works between the piston and cylinderand which might tend to bind the piston if it had a long bearingsurface. The normal or unactuated position of the piston is at the lowerend of the cylinder. The Huid that flows into the lower end ofthecylinder from the end part 15 of the body operates on the piston to`-move it upwardly in the cilinder or to hold it in a raised position int e cylinder. The fluid escapes from'the cylinder into the middle andupper end parts of the body through openings 31 formed through the sides`of the cylinder. In the particular form of the. invention illustratedin the drawings the openings are in the form of slots that extendlongitudinally of the cylinder from points .near its lower endV topoints near its upper end. The openings 31 are located, however, so thatthey are all above the lower end of the piston when the piston is in itsunactuated osition causing the piston to be actuated y the slightest Howof fluid through the device. In the device illustrated 1n the drawingsthere are four Aslots 31 formed in the cylinder, two of them extendingdownwardly further than they others. This causes the piston 26 to bemoved a comparatively great amount by slight changes in How when theilow is slight. It will be obvious, of course, that the-piston may bemade to move various amounts by changes in the flow through the deviceby varying the sizes, shapes, and arrangement of the openings 31. y p

A rod 33 extends downwardly from the piston 26 and engages the plug 18to limitthe downward movement of the piston and to `support the pistonin its unactated ositlon. It is further. desirable to provlde means forlimiting the 11p/ward movement of the piston in the cylinder and-forcushioning the piston at the upper end of its movement. This may be doneby arranging a spring 34 in the cylinder above lthe piston so that itcompresses between the piston and a suitable stationary part upon thepiston approaching the upper end of its movement. In the drawings I haveshown the spring 34 sufliciently' long so that it extends between thestationary part and the piston when the piston is in its down orunactuated position and, therefore, operates to return the piston to itsunactuated position. When the vdevice is used in a vertical position, ashave illustrated in the drawings, the sprmg may be made shorter than Ihave shown it in the drawings as the piston will be returned to itsunactuated ositionv by gravity, however, if it is operated) in anotherpositlon 1t is desirable to make the spring carrier 39 has a ring 42tightly carried in its lower end to form a seat for the lower end of'the gauge glass 38. The gauge glass is arranged in the carrier so thatit is supported by the ring 42 and a cap 43 is screw threaded onto theup er end of the carrier so that it? engages t e upper end of the gaugeglass to close it and to hold the gauge glass in position in thecarrier. Suitable washers44 are arranged at the ends of the gauge glassin the finanner clearly illustrated in Fig. 1. The indicating part isarranged in the gauge glass, and, althou h it may be operativelyconnected with t e piston k26 in various manners, it is preferablycarried by a. rod Awhich extends upwardly from the'piston 26 through thecyl- `inder, through vthe ring 42 and into the gauge glass. The rod 50may be continuous with the rod 33, as I have illustrated in thedrawings. 4The indicating part 40 being thus connected with the piston26 is moved upwardly through the gauge glass as the piston is movedupwardly in the cylinder by the flow of fluid through the trainen Asight opening is provided in the carrier 39 so that the indicating partcan beseen in the gauge glass. Suitable graduations 52 may be providedon'a part of the indicating means, for instance, on the gauge glass, asI have illustrated in Fig. 2,- to facilitate reading the position of theindicating part in the gauge glass.- The rod 50 fits loosely through thering 42 soa-that Huid can enter the gauge glass from the body 10.

In operation thedevice is `connected with the desired fluid conduits 20and 24 in substantially the manner illustrated in Fig. 1, so that 'Huid'flowsiinto the lower end of the body from one of the conduits and isconducted away from the upper end of the body by theV other conduit. Thefluid that enters los' the lower end of the body 10 must 'low into frameenters the gauge glass through, the

v.ring 42 so that iiuid appears in the gauge glass when there is Huid inthe device. With the construction providedfby the present inbody to theconduit 24. Fluid from the"I l vention the device can be very easily andvquickly taken apart for the purpose of cleaning, repairing, brreplacement lof parts. To .remove the-cylinder` and piston mechanism.and to clean the frame of the (device it is merel necessaryto remove theplug 18, and with raw the cylinder and piston mechanism, from the bod?,Tthrough the opening 17. To clean the indicating means or to make areplacement, for instance, to replace the gauge glass 38, it is usuallyonly'necessaryto remove the cap 43, however, the entire indicatingmeans, except for the indicating part 40, may be removed bydetaching'the carrier 39 from the upper end part 14 of the frame.

Having described only a typical preferred form of my inventionfI -do notwish to limit myself to the specific details hereinabove? set forthbutwish to reserve to myself any changes .or variations that may appear tothose skilled in vthe art or fall within the scope 'of the lfollowingclaims.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. In a fluid meter of thecharacter de'- scribed, a hollow body with lateral. openings to receivetwo fluid conduits so that the body connects the conduits, the bodyhaving open- -ings in its upper and lower ends, a' removable plug forthe opening in the lower end of. the body, -a gauge glass connnectedwith the y opening in the upper end of the body to ex,-v tend upwardlyfrom the body, a closure for the upper end of thegauge glass, a cylinder'mounted -in the body so thatit is removable from the body through theopening in the lower end of the body when the plug is removed, the.cylinder having one end Aconnected with the body lso that luid passingthrough the bodyv enters the cylinder and having openings adapted to beuncovered, proportionally to the upward lmovement of the' piston toallow the escape 'of lluid, a piston carried in the cylinder tobeactuated by flow of fluid through the cylinder, 'anin-l d1cating partcarried in -the gauge glass, and an operating connection between thepiston and the indlcating part. ,l

the openilgif 2. vIn a meterof-the character described, a hollow bodywith lateralopenings to receive two iuid conduits so that the bodyconnects the ',conduits, the bod having-openings in i'ts upper and loweren s, aremovable plug for in the lower end of the body,

a gauge ass connected with' the opening in the upper end of the bodytoextend upwardly -from the body, a closure for the upva-i. B

removable from the body through the opening'in its lower end when theplug is removed, the cylinder havinglongitudinal openings adapted 'to beuncovered propor-l tionally to the upward movement of the pis- -ton toallow fluid to escape, a piston carried in the cylinder, a spring arraned between,` the lug and cylinder to hold t e cylinder in .p ace, anindicating part carried in the gauge glass, and a rod extending upwardlyfrom the piston and connecting with the indicating part.

3. In a fluid meter of the character de-l-A i scribed, a body includinga middle part, and

upper and lower end` parts, the lower endI part having an openin in itsupper end to receive, the lower end o the middle part, an opening initslower end, and an intake opening in its side to connect with a uidconduit,

the upper end part having an opening 1n its lower end to receive theupper end of the middle part, lan opening in its upper end, and 'anoutlet opening in its side, a plug removably carried in the .opening inthe lower end of the lower end part, a. cylinder and piston mechanismcarried b the body and removable'through the opening in the lower end ofthe lower end part, said cylinder having an openin in its side, saidpiston being' slidably carrie in the cylinder and normallyr positionedto cut oil communication between the middle and lower parts, and acollar vadjacent the lower end of the cylinder adapted to enga e thelower end of the middle part to there y suport the cylinder freely inthe body, a spring interposed between the collar and plug to holdthecollar in engage- 1 mentwith the middle part, a. gauge glass, a ycarrier for the gauge glass closing its upper endand carried by theuppe' end part, the

carrier having a si ht opening therein, antindicating part in t e gaugeglass, a .rod'extending upwardly from the piston into the gauge glassand connecting with the indicating part, and a spring interposed betweenthe piston and upper end part to maintain said piston in normal positionwhen there is no flow 'through the. device. v

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 4th day of `June 1923.

' GEORGE n nncKaaf

